Historical Change

Video Summary: In this lesson, David Kitts uses children's literature and the local region's agricultural heritage to introduce his first-grade class to the concept of historical change.

Mr. Kitts begins with a timeline from a previous unit on the family. The timeline defines periods of time based on events that students can relate to, such as when their great-great-grandparents lived, for example. Then Mr. Kitts reviews a book the class had read titled Heartland, a story about modern farming. Since all of his students live on a reservation with extended family members who farm, Mr. Kitts uses these concrete examples -- family and farming -- to help explain abstract ideas like change and the passage of time.

Next, Mr. Kitts reads Oxcart Man, which provides a glimpse of what life was like on a farm 200 years ago. Working together, students write comparison statements about farming tools and techniques past and present. Then they record those statements on time wheels that illustrate the similar and distinctive farming practices from each story and period in time. As the lesson concludes, students present their time wheels to the class.